thresher

[thresh-er]

noun

1. a person or thing that threshes.

2. Also called thresher shark. Also a large shark of the genus Alopias, especially A. vulpinus, which threshes the water with its long tail to drive together the small fish on which it feeds.

thresher

/ ˈθrɛʃə /

noun

1. a person who threshes

2. short for threshing machine

3. Also called: thrasher.  thresher shark. any of various large sharks of the genus Alopias, esp A. vulpinus, occurring in tropical and temperate seas: family Alopiidae. They have a very long whiplike tail with which they are thought to round up the small fish on which they feed

Word History and Origins

Origin of thresher¹

First recorded in 1350–1400, thresher is from the Middle English word thressher. See thresh, -er ¹

Example Sentences

The bare and lonely fact of it made her feel like a solitary stalk of grass left waving forlornly in a field after the thresher had come and harvested all the rest for hay.

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Its rice was a finicky crop that sprouts slow, skinny and tall, with fewer grains per bunch, and heads that can sag below the reach of the thresher and end up in the mud.

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The smack of the thresher’s tail stuns a few unlucky fish, which the shark then gobbles up.

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Prior research has examined the vertebrae of thresher sharks, but in the context of the forces experienced during swimming.

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And on Wednesday, the Finnish Confederation of Industries sponsored an all-day webinar with Ukrainian officials so companies could show off their wastewater treatment plants, transformers, threshers and prefabricated housing.

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